I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are
thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are
mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am
no more in the world, but these are in the world,
and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep... to thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are. While I was with them
in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those
that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of
them is lost but the son of perdition, that the
scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I
to thee. And these things I speak in the world,
that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them thy word, and the world hath
hated them, because they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. I pray not that
thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of
the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy
word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the
world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself,
that they also might be sanctified. through the
truth. Thus is a part of the prayer that Jesus
prayed to the Father, expressing the desire of
his own heart for you and for me, for those who
have accepted him as their Savior. You will remember
one of our heart -to -heart talks. I showed you
from the word of God that in expressing his desire
for his own, he expressed three desires. First,
keep them in thy name. And then, that they may
be one even as we are. And then third, keep them
from... The evil. First of all, before I go a
little deeper into the scripture, I want you
to see something in regard to those of us who
are born again. And when I say those of us, I
mean men and women everywhere. To the generations.
Those who have become... a part of the body of
Christ, born into this invisible body that we
call the church. The hour has now come that Jesus
must take a new position, the position of great
high priest. He is leaving. As he expressed himself
to the Father, The work that thou hast given
me, I have accomplished. I've carried out salvation's
plan. In just a few hours, I will have dismissed
my own spirit. And then, after the glorious resurrection,
I will ascend again into heaven. I will no longer
be walking this earth. in person. I will be standing
in the Holy Spirit. And the only ones who will
represent me in the flesh will be these that
thou hast given unto me. Do you realize the responsibility
that is that of every Christian? Do you know
Do you know what a Christian really is? Do you
know what it really means to be a Christian?
Do you know what it really and truly means to
say, I am one of them? I belong to him. I know
we like to think of our inheritance. An heir
of God and a joint heir with Christ Jesus. But
remember something. Before the crown, there is
a cross. Know that. For me to live this very
hour. The next hour. Until that last day without
a tomorrow. For me to walk down the street. For
me to be a part of that family life. For me to
stand on that stage. For me to live is Christ.
I am the only Jesus that thousands... actually
see with the visible eye. Sometimes that responsibility
is so overwhelming that I feel it so keenly.
No one knows how seriously I take this whole
responsibility. Because we're still in the flesh,
we're still human. I realize that when I walk
into the store, that little sales lady behind
the counter, when I open my mouth, will say immediately,
Oh, you're Catherine Coleman. And standing there,
I'm the only Jesus that she sees with her natural
eye. I walk down the street. A man suddenly recognizes
me. He has seen me on television. He dips his
hat and he says, I've never seen you in person,
but you're Catherine Kuhlman. I realize immediately
my terrific responsibility. I may be the only
Jesus that that man is seeing. I represent Jesus.
That young person. And I realize my tremendous
responsibility among the youth. Those young people
are seeking reality. They sense sincerity. They've
been looking for it all of their lives. They're
seeking it. What these young people today are
really seeking is sincerity. The truth. I really
believe that the majority of them are honest
within themselves. They're seeking something.
They're tired of this falseness. And the world
is such a sham. And most people are so false.
Most men are so false. The majority of women
are so false, you know. I hear their chatter.
When you deal with as many people as I deal with
in a week, you'll understand the fickleness of
human nature, the falseness of seemingly sincerity.
The world is seeking reality. And if you profess
to be a Christian, the unsaved man, the unsaved
woman, has every right to expect something different
from that life of yours. They have a right to.
When Jesus walked this earth, the disciples could
see him. Literally. They could touch his person.
They saw his face. They heard his audible words.
As he spoke to the multitude, as he walked among
the 5 ,000 that day on the hillside, they could
see him. They could go home and say, we saw Jesus.
I touched his garment. He walked past me. He
laid his hand upon my head. He talked with me.
He prayed with me. But one day Jesus said, I
can no longer stay with you. It is expedient
for you that I go away. I must take a new position.
And he left. And when he went away, he left that
responsibility to you and to me. He left a responsibility
to every man and every woman. who has accepted
him in the forgiveness of their sins. It means
something to be a Christian. If you are one who
stands in that pulpit, my brother in the Lord,
your responsibility is great. You represent him.
You do not represent a religion. You do not represent
some great organization. You represent the Son
of God. You represent Christ. You represent God
Almighty just as much as Jesus represented the
Father when he was here on earth. And in representing
him, be careful that you glorify him. Do you
really understand what I'm trying to say? That
man, that woman who sits in that pew, being a
Christian is something more than sitting in that
pew for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour once
a week. It means something more than that. It
means that when you walk out of that sanctuary,
when you walk out of that cathedral, when you
walk out of that church for the Catholic or Protestant,
Jew or Gentile, black or white, when you walk
out of that place of worship, you're going out
into the world. A world that you are not a part
of. You're in the world. You still walk the same
streets that the unregenerated man walks. You
still go into the same stores. You still buy
your groceries from the same place that the unregenerated
man buys. You are in the world because you steal
the flesh. But you're not of the world. You're
not a part of it. You do not do the things that
the unregenerated man, the unregenerated woman
does. You see, we've gotten to the place where
we think everybody else is doing it. It's the
thing to do. Everybody's doing it. So what? It's
a spirit of the age. It's old -fashioned to do
differently. My friend. Jesus never has changed
his laws, his code of ethics, nor his standards
for any one generation, not even for the day
in which you and I live. What he is saying here,
I'm going away. I leave the whole responsibility
now. To those who will accept me, the teaching
of the word, the truth. And remember, his word
is truth. And the whole thing is based on faith
and trust and confidence. He might have said,
if they fail, I have failed. The whole thing
crumbles. It all comes down. Do you realize what
confidence Jesus had in you and in me? Do you
realize? I stopped talking about my faith in
him. I haven't preached a sermon on faith for
so long. I'm beginning now to get a glimpse of
the faith that he must have in you and he must
have in me. I'm not worried about my faith in
him. That'll take care of itself. When I need
faith, I have the confidence that he'll give
me that faith for that need. When I come to the
edge of my Red Sea, I'm not going to have to
worry about my faith in crossing that Red Sea.
When my iron has to swim, I'm no longer worried
about my faith. When I need that faith to make
that iron to swim, he'll provide it. It'll be
there. He'll give it to me. because he's the
author and the finisher of my faith. What I'm
thinking about more than I've ever thought about
in my whole Christian life is his confidence
in me. His faith in me. I don't dare fail. I
get tired. I get weary. I'm human. And many a
time I feel like I've carried it so long. I've
carried it so long, this responsibility. And
yet suddenly, I realize he has confidence in
me. I don't dare let him down. I just don't dare
let him down. I don't. He's depending on me.
He's got confidence in me. You know, it's the
most beautiful thing in the world to know that
somebody has complete confidence in you. Have
you ever had that feeling, do you know what I'm
talking about? Maybe you live and die and never
know what I'm talking about when I talk about
faith and talk about confidence. That confidence
that your little son has in you. Man, how in
the world can you live the type of life that
you're living, the kind of life that you're living,
if you're a daddy? And you have a young son.
For the life of me, I cannot see how any daddy
dare goes wrong. How can you do the things that
you do? How can you be the immoral person that
you are? How can you be the failure that you
are? How can you be the drunkard that you are?
How can you? When at home, you have a little
boy who thinks you're the... greatest human being.
He thinks his daddy can do anything. He's the
strongest. He's the biggest. Maybe you don't
hear him bragging about you and boasting about
you to the other kids on the playground. Many
a time he has to cover up for you. He sees things
he doesn't want to see and he thinks. His eyes
are lying to him. He'll tell wonderful stories
about his wonderful dad that really aren't true.
He tells them because he wants you to be that
kind of a person. He'll tell the other kids,
you're stronger and bigger than any other man
in the world. You're dead. Why, he says, my dad
can lick your dad. He can lick any guy. My dad
could just, you know, do this and that and the
other thing. That confidence. When a person has
confidence in you and you know they have confidence
in you, there's something about it you're not
going to let go. them down for anything in the
world. You'll keep working. You'll keep plugging.
You'll do what you can't do in the natural because
you want to live up to everything that they think
about you and to all the confidence and the faith
that they have in you. You see, that's the way
that I feel about Jesus. I'll work like Rob.
I'll work until my heart takes its last beat.
He has confidence in me. And so before he went
away, he talked to the Father about those of
us to whom he has given this terrific responsibility.
And your responsibility is just as great as mine.
My responsibility is no greater than yours. Know
that. I've only used myself as an example. As
a Christian, your responsibility is just as great
as mine. When you fail another, you're failing
him.